<p>Shop skills are not engineering. But take that with a grain of salt. Depending on exactly what branch/niche of engineering D pursues, they may have zero value or could be extremely useful on projects. For my own S, he was in band for 4 years and due to other scheduling issues, only had 2 AP classes, got accepted to the engineering program at our state school and has done really well. Any shop skills he has were learned at the workbench at home.</p>
<p>You may want to read this thread, <a href=“Do I need to be a tinkerer to be an engineer? - Engineering Majors - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/1647791-do-i-need-to-be-a-tinkerer-to-be-an-engineer.html</a> it addresses a lot of the hands on aspect that seems to go along with a lot of engineering.</p>